Sunderland might be rooted to the bottom of the Premier League, but it’s the club – rather than manager David Moyes – who are to blame.
That’s the feeling of Jamie Carragher, at least, who has pointed to the fact that the Scot is by no means the only otherwise-respected manager to struggle at the Stadium of Light.
‘Sunderland’s problems are not down to Moyes. He has just taken a bad job,’ Carragher writes in his column for the Daily Mail.
‘Gus Poyet, who had 18 months in charge at the Stadium of Light, summed it up recently when he said ‘there is something at Sunderland’s very core’ that makes managers fail there,”
‘Think about it. The only blemish on Martin O’Neill’s c.v. is Sunderland. Steve Bruce was spoken about as a future England manager but he failed there.
‘Dick Advocaat has managed all over the world but couldn’t make it work. Allardyce is regarded as a saviour, but he only won nine of his 30 games in charge.
2 – Sunderland have collected just two points from their opening 10 games, the joint-worst start to a PL campaign (Man City 95/96). Nadir.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 29, 2016
Moyes’ Sunderland have taken just two points from their first 10 matches in the league this season, and even North East rivals Newcastle United – relegated last May – have won a top-flight game more recently than them.
They have only led in two of their league games, and only once have they scored more than one goal in a league game.
Even if the Black Cats win their next two games – away at Bournemouth and at home to Hull City – they will remain in the bottom three.
But Carragher thinks the ‘almost unmanageable’ club and underperforming players, as opposed to ‘very good Premier League manager’ Moyes, are the ones to blame.
‘I said last season Aston Villa were the worst Premier League team I had seen but the Sunderland of 2016-17 has the potential to eclipse them,’ he continues.
I fear for their future. But to hold Moyes responsible? I’m sorry that just isn’t the case.
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